10 Best Automated PHP Testing Frameworks

Debugging PHP code is certainly a tedious as for all those programmers out there. This is the main reason why testing the PHP codes created is very important. Good thing automated testing of your PHP code is now possible with the aid of the numerous automated testing frameworks. In testing, it is important to write first the testing codes before the application codes. In relation to this, here are the 10 best automated testing frameworks for PHP:

PHPUnit – Conducting test-driven development is made possible with the aid of this automated testing framework for PHP. It is best for writing Unit Tests intended for PHP apps. Keep in mind that every unit must be tested well individually, to make sure that everything is working. It has a handy TestCase class, which can be extended depending on the needs you have got.

Codeception – Writing Unit Tests is not the only capability of this automated testing framework. It can also help a lot in writing Acceptance Tests and Functional Tests. Base on the development needs, enabling and configuring different modules becomes possible through Codeception. What made it the best is the PHP development frameworks integrated into it. These frameworks are the Zend Framework, Phalcon, Yii, Laravel4, and the Symfony2.

Behat – If you need a PHP testing framework that is behavior-driven, then the most popular and effective one for you to have is the Behat. It is the best in a way that code-like tests are not the ones that you can write when using it. Instead, you can write stories-like tests. The behaviour-driven development subtype used by Behat is the StoryBDD instead of the SpecBDD. The inspiration in creating Behat was the testing framework used in Rugby programming language, which is the so-called Cucumber project.

PHPSpec – Behaviour-driven testing approach is the one used by PHPSpec, with the SpecBDD subtype. With PHPSpec however, there is this first thing that is very important for you to do. This is writing the specifications that will serve as the direction on how your application code may behave. The creation of this automated testing framework for PHP was also inspired with RSpec, which is also a Rugby testing framework.

SimpleTest – The style of this automated testing framework for PHP is the Test-Driven Development. What is best about this particular framework is the fact that it is very simple to utilize. It is considered to be the finest alternative for the PHPUnit. Basic authentication, frames, proxies, forms, and SSL are supported by SimpleTest.

Storyplayer – This full-stack testing framework will allow writing end-to-end tests intended for a particular platform. Test environments that are on demand can be created and destroyed through the aid of Storyplayer. TDD testing approach is the one that is followed by this automated testing framework for PHP. Moreover, it will help in writing Functional Tests, which will allow you to check the entirety of the application.

Peridot – When you are searching for a lightweight automated testing framework for PHP, then Peridot is the best one for you to consider. It is developed with event-driven architecture. With that being said, there is no question why testers can customize the framework without any sweat. Of course, this can only be possible with reporters and plugins.

Atoum – This excellent PHP testing framework is a modern and intuitive one, and it is capable enough in running unit tests. It can help in making the test development easier on the part of programmers. This framework has just been developed recently, which is why it is equipped with the latest features just like the PHP 5.3. This certain feature is not applicable to the older versions of PHP.

Kahlan – This is a BDD testing framework that is full-featured. With the use of Kahlan, writing Unit Tests becomes possible with the utilization of describe-it syntax. Its design principle is based on KISS, which basically stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. At least PHP 5.5 is required with Kahlan. A small code base is featured in this automated testing framework, which is 10x smaller from PHPUnit.

Selenium – Automating browsers is one capability of this automated testing framework for PHP. With Selenium, writing User Acceptance Tests is easier to do. With that being said, examining the entirety of the app will be easy for the programmers. If you are looking for a robust tool that has WebDriver API, then Selenium is the perfect one. Web applications that are more mature can be excellently tested through Selenium.

These are the 10 best automated testing frameworks for PHP that you can consider using. There is no way you cannot achieve your goal of testing your PHP code with the help of these excellent frameworks. You just have to choose what you think is the best for you for utilization.